The AMDA Foundation's research development conference, "Uniting Practice and Research in Long Term Care", tentatively scheduled for November 2-3, 2001 is a central component of the implementation of a newly formed practice-based research network of medical directors in long term care facilities. The conference will set a national research agenda for the long term care research network. It will provide training to network members in research methodologies, disseminate information on seminal long term care research studies, and help identify and nurture new principal investigators. By bringing together academic researchers and community based medical directors, it will provide a unique forum for collaboration and development of one or more well-defined network research projects: